


Too Good

by evilwriter37



Series: Banned Together Bingo 2020 [9]
Category: DreamWorks Dragons (Cartoon), How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Pacifism, Stoning, interrupted execution
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-21
Updated: 2020-11-21
Packaged: 2021-03-09 17:48:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27660248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evilwriter37/pseuds/evilwriter37
Summary: Hiccup jumps in the middle of Viggo being stoned to death and rescues him, despite the two being enemies.
Series: Banned Together Bingo 2020 [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1743505
Comments: 15
Kudos: 42
Collections: Banned Together Bingo 2020





	Too Good

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: pacifism

Viggo was not used to kneeling, but that’s what he was doing: kneeling, tied up, at the center of Berk. There was a crowd around him, and he searched for Hiccup, but didn’t see him. He was out of his element here, frightened. These people were angry with him, angry for the torments he’d put their tribe through. 

The first rock was thrown, and Viggo gave a cry as it hit him in his unprotected shoulder. (His armor had been taken away from him as soon as he’d been captured, along with all of his weapons.) He as helpless in this situation. This crowd would probably kill him, and Viggo doubted that anyone would care.

Or… or maybe Hiccup would. But where  _ was  _ Hiccup? 

The crowd shouted insults, threw more stones. Some missed, while others hit their mark. A gash opened up on his left cheek from one of them. 

Viggo was truly in trouble. This crowd of furious Berkians was going to stone him to death, and they thought he deserved it. 

“Stop!” came a cry in a familiar voice. Viggo looked in its direction to see Hiccup running into the plaza. “Stop!” Viggo didn’t know what to expect, but suddenly, Hiccup put his body between him and the angered people of Berk. A few stones hit him, but they stopped once they realized they were putting their heir in danger.

“Whose idea was this?” Hiccup asked angrily as the crowd quieted, seemingly unsure of what to do.

“My idea,” Spitelout answered, stepping forward. “I think Viggo deserves it for everything that he’s done.”

“But this isn’t the  _ way _ ,” Hiccup said. He gestured to Viggo, who was still kneeling and bleeding. “We can’t just stone a man to death, regardless of his crimes.”

Viggo looked at Hiccup in shock. He’d… come to his rescue? He didn’t think that he should die? 

“I think we can,” Spitelout said, voice gruff with anger. He hefted a stone in one hand, and Viggo swallowed hard. It was rather large. 

“Oh yeah?” Hiccup challenged. “So you’ll hit me too since I’m in the way?”

What ensued was a stare down between Hiccup and Spitelout, and Viggo could tell that Hiccup was winning. Eventually, Spitelout backed away from the challenge in Hiccup’s eyes, dropping his stone back onto the ground. 

“Come on,” Hiccup said. He pulled Viggo to his feet. “Let’s get you looked at.”

Murmurs ran through the crowd as Viggo was led away by Hiccup. He wondered where he was taking him. He didn’t say anything as they arrived at their destination: Berk’s jail. Viggo was compliant as Hiccup put him in a cell, sure that struggling against this would be undignified. The door locked behind him, and then Hiccup left. Viggo wondered if he was going to be seeing more of him, and why he hadn’t said anything to him on the way over.

Viggo sat on the cot provided in the cell and thought about what had happened. He’d been about to be stoned to death, and Hiccup, the man who was at war with him, had come and stopped it. Why? Why had he done that? 

Someone entered the jail, and Viggo expected it to be Stoick with his death sentence, but instead it was Hiccup with a cloth and a bowl of water. Putting the cloth on his arm, he withdrew a key, met Viggo in the eye.

“Can I come in?” he asked. 

Viggo just nodded, unsure of what to say, still dumbfounded by what had occurred. Hiccup inserted the key into the lock and came into the cell. He set the bowl of water down by Viggo, then took the cloth and dipped it in. He began attending to the cut on his cheek.

“Why did you do that?” Viggo finally asked. His voice was quiet, as the air was intimate between them, and he didn’t want to ruin that. It seemed for now, having him tied up like this, Hiccup trusted him. And he was giving him care. “After everything I’ve put you and your tribe through, why did you save me?”

“Because it’s not my way,” Hiccup said. 

“So you don’t hate me?”

Hiccup sighed, lowered the cloth. “I… I think I might, but that doesn’t mean I want you dead. Hatred doesn’t instantly result in death, you know.” He smiled a little, and Viggo liked the look on him. It made him realize that he’d never seen him smile before. 

“Hmm…” Viggo was unsure of what to say. So, Hiccup most likely hated him, but didn’t want him dead. That was getting somewhere. Viggo respected Hiccup. While Viggo would have left someone like himself for dead, Hiccup had rescued him and was now tending to his wounds.

“You’re a pacifist then?” Viggo asked. 

Hiccup just nodded, still cleaning the wound on his cheek. It stung, but Viggo made no indication of that. 

“That ideology won’t get you very far in life, my dear,” Viggo told him. “Especially as a future chief. Sometimes we leaders have to make ruthless decisions.”

“It’s gotten me this far,” Hiccup responded. He looked Viggo in the eye. “And I don’t want to be ruthless like you. Ever. I see what a monster it’s turned you into.”

“And yet you still treat me as human.”

Hiccup said nothing to that, just frowned. Viggo was silent as Hiccup cleaned up his wounds. Then Hiccup was untying Viggo and leaving the cell. Viggo stood.

“Hiccup?”

“Yeah?” He turned to look at him, and the look on his face was one of pure beauty, a showing of the goodness in his heart. Maybe… maybe Hiccup  _ could  _ make pacifism work for himself.

“Thank you.”

Hiccup just smiled and dipped his head, and then was leaving the jail. Viggo sat, pondering what had just happened, and his respect for Hiccup deepened. 


End file.
